The Original Xbox Was Revealed 20 Years Ago Today

Has it been that long?

by Fraser Gilbert Tue 10th Mar 2020

Feel old yet? The original Xbox was revealed 20 years ago today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, kicking off a historic legacy that would eventually spawn multiple consoles, tens of thousands of games and of course, our very own community here at Pure Xbox (thanks Microsoft!).

The GDC show featured a presentation by Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates and 'father of Xbox' Seamus Blackley, complete with an X-shaped prototype of the original Xbox. You can watch the full 39 minute presentation in the video above, and there are a couple of screengrabs in the Tweet below:

https://twitter.com/ReclaimerRob/status/1237273661050097664

As the story goes, this event took place just one month following the infamous "St. Valentine's Day Massacre", in which an all-day meeting with Bill Gates (on Valentine's Day) almost saw the Xbox cancelled for good. Fortunately, it all turned out for the best, and we're still playing our Xboxes to this day.

Did you pick up an original Xbox at release? What are your favourite memories of the console? Get all nostalgic on us in the comments below.

[source twitter.com, via youtube.com, venturebeat.com]

Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.

1
FullbringIchigo
Fri 13th Mar 2020

i have 3 of those

not for any negative reason but i had one and when my brother got a 360 he gave me his and my sisters husband also gave me his old one because he didn't need it anymore

i'm not gonna turn down a free console

anyway on topic the OG XBOX was a great little machine just a shame it didn't hit the heights of the PS2 but we got some great games on it

also the Duke controller was awesome

2
Tasuki
Fri 13th Mar 2020

I never owned one during it's lifespan (bought a modded one years ago) due to owning both a GameCube and PS2 and trying to support them both I just didn't have the time nor money for another console. My friend did though so whenever I wanted to play Xbox I just went over to his place. Many a hours were spent playing stuff like Halo and PGR.

3
Gamer83
Fri 13th Mar 2020

I bought one over summer 2004 when I was home from college. First games were Halo (which I had been playing long before that at friends' houses and at school) and the game pushed me over the edge to get the system... The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay which is still one of my favorite licensed video games of all time. Plenty of great stuff after that, favorite games were Jade Empire, the Dead or Alive Ultimate Collection, Forza Motorsport, Oddworld Stranger's Warth and Halo 2.

4
FraserG
Fri 13th Mar 2020

@Tasuki I'm in the same boat! I never owned one, but I was always going round to my friend's house to play his.

We had some seriously good times playing KotOR, Jedi Academy, Kung Fu Chaos, LMA Manager and obviously Halo. And I'm still playing a bunch of original Xbox games via 360 and XB1 backwards compatibility.

5
Tasuki
Fri 13th Mar 2020

@FraserG Ooooh Shout out to KotR. Loved that game and still play it again on XB1 BC. That and Jade Empire. I really wished they made a sequel to that one.

6
flummerfelt
Sat 14th Mar 2020

I must say, it is so great to see Pure Xbox back online! Been too long

Can’t believe the OG Xbox was revealed this long ago. I have many fond memories of Halo/Halo 2 LAN parties, hauling bulky CRT TVs to friend’s houses... good times. I still have one of the Mountain Dew edition systems hooked up to this day.